This morning I received a comprehensive commentary from BM, who was responding to my post Suppressing Dissent, which expressed criticism of the visit by Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ visit to the Donald Trump White House. If you missed it, you may wish to read it before enjoying BM’s post below. Following his comments, ...

PHOTOS: The Alberta Government’s Dash-8, used and abused by Premier Ralph Klein so that he could smoke while in transit between Calgary and Edmonton (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). It’s not just what you spend, but what you spend it on, says Guest Post Author Bob Raynard, below. Below him: former Conservative premiers Klein (Photo, Chuck Szmurlo, ...

I recently published a guest post by BM entitled, The Creep Of Corporatism. In a followup, he has written something that I think many will find both fascinating and thought-provoking: Thank you for featuring my comment as a blog post. In line with your other recent post on Canadian sovereignty, and my mention of the ...

There are differing opinions on payday loans and the government of Alberta wants to hear yours. One thing is certain though, they are extremely expensive and targeted at Albertans living in poverty. For many Albertans who need quick cash a… Continue Reading →

TweetSo you’re a new Premier, looking for a way to make a splash – to make the public forget about the previous regime. You could do something simple like reduce Cabinet to 20, which is essentially the size of Cabinet (Associate Ministers are not actually Cabinet ministers). But that’s not really bold. Bold would be ...

Theresa Lubowitz on the Death of Substantive Policy Canada is teetering dangerously close to the death of substantive policy as we know it, with the rise of a populist Conservative Government, a populist NDP Official Opposition, and a struggling Liberal Party so afraid of irrelevancy it has spent the last four years taking the safe ...

I recently attended the Ontario Liberal Party’s Provincial Council in Sudbury. It was great to see so many dedicated Liberals working together in Northern Ontario, but one moment was particularly inspiring. During a session about youth in politics, Kathleen Wynne (Minister of Municipal & Aboriginal Affairs) provided some insights from her seat in the audience. ...

Politics is more about timing than it is skill. Being the right person in the right place at the right time is more conducive to political success than being the wisest, best-educated or most prudent individual in the world. With Bob Rae’s decision to respect his oath not to seek the permanent Liberal Leadership position, ...

Nurse Practitioner (Photo credit: ekea7) by Amanda Trujillo If the newer generations of nurses out there are more confused than ever about their roles in healthcare — they should be. I’m one of the newer generations of nurses and I — AM — CONFUSED. Seriously. Think about it. We are taught all of the idyllic, pretty ...

Late last year, one of the parents of a Barrie Young Liberal developed multiple sclerosis. After suffering from two seizures, doctors performed extensive testing on her brain to discover the cause. She was diagnosed with MS. Multiple sclerosis is a frightening and degenerating disease. It impairs the ability of the brain’s nerve cells to communicate ...

The end of the penny has caused many important cuts in Steven Harper’s first majority budget to have been buried. CBC funding was cut to the amount of $115 million dollars, $56 million was cut from the Canadian Food Inspections Agency, the Katimavik program was scrapped altogether, the list goes on. In the midst of ...

The evening of the Academy Awards a good friend and I were reviewing the foreign policy platforms of three NDP leadership candidates, Tom Mulcair, Brian Topp and Peggy Nash. Here are some awards we created for each of the three candidates’ policies: Most impressive foreign policy recommendation: Peggy Nash – “Prioritizing efforts in those countries ...

It was bad. It was really bad. It was the worst week the Conservatives have had since they became a Majority Government. Bill C-30, the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act” allows the Government and Canadian authorities to track the digital footprint of Canadian citizens without a warrant in situations deemed “exceptional”. Problem: the word ...

I’ll start this one by stating that this is definitely coming from my subjective experience. And for once, that actually counts for something. I’m a woman who is involved in politics. I’m a young woman who is involved in politics. And I’m a minority. As many may have learned I’m Lebanese-Canadian from Muslim background. My ...

Kyle Peterson (Past candidate, Newmarket-Aurora.) Although I had been to umpteen LPC events since I first joined the Liberal Party in September 1990 at the campus of the University of Western Ontario (where, incidentally, I came to know our new President, Mike Crawley), I was particularly excited about this Biennial. And for a number of ...

Bryan Bondy (Delegate from Perth-Wellington.) Somewhere out there in the great yonder of the Internet, someone has made the statement, or something close to it, that the Liberal Party of Canada needs to embrace change and listen to grassroots values as it engages ordinary Canadians in rebuilding (and then something about families). Political buzzwords are ...

Leanne Bourassa (Former candidate for National Membership Secretary.) Where to begin? My LPC 2012 Convention experience actually began in November 2011 when I submitted my nomination forms for the National Table Officer position of National Membership Secretary. Most of the people who signed my nomination form didn’t even know about the position of membership secretary, ...

Hot: Peter Milliken: Canada’s longest-serving Speaker of the House can still silence a room with a stern look or wry turn-of-phrase , which is even more impressed when that room is filled with 3200 Liberal delegates instead of 308 MPS. Cannabis: With 77% of the vote it looks like the policy motion put forward by ...

Micah Goldberg (Delegate from Winnipeg, Manitoba.) The Liberal Convention held in Ottawa was supposedly a three-day convention aimed at rebuilding the party brand and picking up the mess from May 2nd 2011. There are many highlights over the past three days: the newly minted “supporters” category and their right to vote in leadership races, the ...

The Barrie Young Liberals (BYL) formed shortly after the federal election in May, 2011. The election was a disappointing result, to be sure; perhaps, no more so than in Barrie where the Liberal candidate came third to the Conservative incumbent and a New Democratic newcomer. Notwithstanding that, however, federal Liberal members Bradley Stewart and Alex ...

Hubris* By Aidan Delivered to Mrs. Collicutt’s class, 1980 Hello everyone. I am so glad to see you all here today. For my presentation Mrs. Collicutt asked me to pick a word to talk about so I am here to … Continue reading →